Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[TrulyBlonde]

3 minutes ago, DavyWavey70 said:

Apparently he was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, at least that’s what they keep repeating. 

That is what we hear too. Although I must say using terms such as Far Right or Far Left does not help. Everyone is appalled hearing about this tragedy no matter what FAR you are on. Hearts are breaking all over the World for Southport. 

[UKCruiseJeff]

4 hours ago, lincslady said:

I wonder if my American granddaughter-in-law may change her mind about wanting to come and live in the UK as she hates the amount of violence in the US?

 

Your grandaughter-in-law will have a great life here. 

 

Jeff

 

ps .... the square root of nothing ..... but a few hours ago there our lights flickered and then went off ... followed by a large explosion close by and it all went black. Several villages lost their power.  Luckily I am stocked with power stations and got our broadband back on and we streamed to an ipad.  We have loads of rechargeable lights which gave a slightly romantic air to our blackout.  Contingency plans seems to silly until you are sitting in the dark and get up and promptly stub your toe.

[DavyWavey70]

2 hours ago, TrulyBlonde said:

That is what we hear too. Although I must say using terms such as Far Right or Far Left does not help. Everyone is appalled hearing about this tragedy no matter what FAR you are on. Hearts are breaking all over the World for Southport. 

With all due respect the EDL are about as far right as you can get. To use the heartbreaking tragedy in this way as an excuse to riot, attack a Mosque and try and further their agenda is both cynical and despicable and shows no respect to those lives lost and as I stated earlier this reaction was stoked up by the press.

[drron29]

[mchell810]

10 hours ago, mysty said:

I read an interesting and entertaining book last year related to wine and wine tasting.  Wine aficionados (formerly known as winos 😁) might enjoy it.

 

Cork Dork
A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste

By Bianca Bosker

 

 

From Penguin Random House:

About Cork Dork
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND A NEW YORK TIMES CRITICS’ PICK

“Thrilling . . . [told] with gonzo élan . . . When the sommelier and blogger Madeline Puckette writes that this book is the Kitchen Confidential of the wine world, she’s not wrong, though Bill Buford’s Heat is probably a shade closer.” —Jennifer Senior, The New York Times
 
"Professional journalist and amateur drinker Bianca Bosker didn’t know much about wine—until she discovered an alternate universe where taste reigns supreme, a world of elite sommeliers who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of flavor. Astounded by their fervor and seemingly superhuman sensory powers, she set out to uncover what drove their obsession, and whether she, too, could become a “cork dork.”

With boundless curiosity, humor, and a healthy dose of skepticism, Bosker takes the reader inside underground tasting groups, exclusive New York City restaurants, California mass-market wine factories, and even a neuroscientist’s fMRI machine as she attempts to answer the most nagging question of all: what’s the big deal about wine? What she learns will change the way you drink wine—and, perhaps, the way you live—forever."

 

Thanks for posting this.  I've just borrowed it from my local library (ebook).  Looks like fun, seems we all need a bit of that with everything that is happening around the world.

 

[lincslady]

Indeed, sometimes it is hard to get things into perspective when so  much around you seems to be appalling.  I woke up to read about the riot in Southport, orchestrated and run by people who have nothing to do with Southport but simply using this event to further their wish to destroy what humanity and decency we have left in this country.  

 

No doubt I will feel better after talking it over with a friend at lunchtime, and enjoying some of the nicer things in life, but right now somewhat depressed.  One of those is seeing veterans like Simone Byles and Andy Murray having joyful success in Paris.  Onwards and upwards.

 

 

[MissSophia]

8 hours ago, Lvshack said:

So was my reaction 😁..!! yes my chosen chosen charity is very close to my heart ❤️.as I'm living with myeloma .. just recovering from second stem cell transplant back in January... Yes I so much enjoy reading about all the other coolers experience of fine dining etc... but I've said several times now to my husband & friends why do I respond to the cooler.. as I get knocked back so many times... I just guess I'm not in with the in crowd 😞... Been cruising with silversea since 2004 ... But still don't seem to fit in.never mind life fore goes on with people who really care for me ...

Lvshack,

It seems l read your post as being a tad sarcastic, l was wrong and sincerely apologise for the misunderstanding.

I’m sorry that you’re unwell but if you have time then do please join us here on the cooler as we are a friendly bunch and you’d be welcomed to join in the chatter.

With my best Wishes 

S 😊

[MissSophia]

1 hour ago, lincslady said:

Indeed, sometimes it is hard to get things into perspective when so  much around you seems to be appalling.  I woke up to read about the riot in Southport, orchestrated and run by people who have nothing to do with Southport but simply using this event to further their wish to destroy what humanity and decency we have left in this country.  

 

No doubt I will feel better after talking it over with a friend at lunchtime, and enjoying some of the nicer things in life, but right now somewhat depressed.  One of those is seeing veterans like Simone Byles and Andy Murray having joyful success in Paris.  Onwards and upwards.

 

 

Lola, it is all so unnecessary isn’t it and everything we seem to see on the news these days is depressing and yes, the world has gone mad!

Hopefully your lunch chat with your friend will perk you up a bit 😊

 

[lincslady]

Thanks, Sophia.  One of my outlets is looking on the Cooler and making the odd (sometimes in both senses) contribution, and I value the posts which are cheerful, informative, funny  and interesting, and show goodwill to one another.  Most of us have sorrows and problems which we don't usually discuss here - I know I have and you also.  But this is one place, along with kind friends and families, where we can be more light hearted and put serious thoughts behind us or at least into perspective.  

 

Jeff, I wasn't being too serious about my US relative wanting to move here, though at times her worry about sending their young  children to school in the States looks as if it might be getting to be  more a problem here too.

[mysty]

6 hours ago, mchell810 said:

 

Thanks for posting this.  I've just borrowed it from my local library (ebook).  Looks like fun, seems we all need a bit of that with everything that is happening around the world.

 

 

I hope you enjoy the read! 🥰

[MissSophia]

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

 

[zqtchas]

[lincslady]

Thanks for the funnies - and yes, a long chat and lunch with a good friend, of 45 years standing, did me good, along with the drive through the rather hot July countryside, trees now getting their dark green colours, and a hint  of  a summer storm threatening.  It is only 26 degrees, but feels a lot hotter.  How did we manage without aircon in cars those years ago.

[MissSophia]

2 hours ago, lincslady said:

Thanks for the funnies - and yes, a long chat and lunch with a good friend, of 45 years standing, did me good, along with the drive through the rather hot July countryside, trees now getting their dark green colours, and a hint  of  a summer storm threatening.  It is only 26 degrees, but feels a lot hotter.  How did we manage without aircon in cars those years ago.

Sounds like you enjoyed Lola….sometimes it can be an effort to go out but we always feel better when we do.

A very old friend of mine came today…l can beat your 45 years of friendship as mine first held me in her arms when l was just six weeks old! We’ve never lost touch and have enjoyed a lovely afternoon in the garden reminiscing 😊

[mysty]

For those who enjoy mystery novels you might consider checking out the books by Louise Penny.  I have just begun the series and I am currently on her 11th book in the series.  Her character development is awesome and you soon feel like the people in the stories are your next door neighbours.

 

 

Louise Penny is a Canadian author of mystery novels set in the Canadian province of Quebec centred on the work of francophone Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec. Much of the action in her novels happens in Montreal and a small village near the Vermont border named Three Pines.

 

Still Life is the debut novel written by Louise Penny and published by St. Martin's Paperbacks on 1 January 2005. This novel won the Anthony Award for Best First Novel in 2007. It is the first in a series of mystery novels featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.

 

From Goodreads:

The discovery of a dead body in the woods on Thanksgiving Weekend brings Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his colleagues from the Sûreté du Quebec to a small village in the Eastern Townships. Gamache cannot understand why anyone would want to deliberately kill well-loved artist Jane Neal, especially any of the residents of Three Pines - a place so free from crime it doesn't even have its own police force.

But Gamache knows that evil is lurking somewhere behind the white picket fences and that, if he watches closely enough, Three Pines will start to give up its dark secrets...

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

13 hours ago, lincslady said:

Indeed, sometimes it is hard to get things into perspective when so  much around you seems to be appalling.  I woke up to read about the riot in Southport, orchestrated and run by people who have nothing to do with Southport but simply using this event to further their wish to destroy what humanity and decency we have left in this country.  

 

No doubt I will feel better after talking it over with a friend at lunchtime, and enjoying some of the nicer things in life, but right now somewhat depressed.  One of those is seeing veterans like Simone Byles and Andy Murray having joyful success in Paris.  Onwards and upwards.

 

 

 

Lola,

 

I was saddened to see you down and I wanted to at least let you to know I’m thinking of you and empathise.

 

The horrible thing about maturing is that increasingly nothing is where you left it in terms of stuff like your own country and your own perception of stable decent long-learned values.  

 

My solution isn’t the best one because it isn’t my first choice, I want everyone to be what they were with the same values as when I was younger.  So I create a bubble of isolation to keep me away from confronting what use to be - for example - consideration for others as against total universal entitlement and selfishness.  And why is everyone so angry?  Why does so many people think they are celebrities when they are totally unknown.  The entitlement seems to have created a world of anger.  

 

When some of us were kids. it was post war and in spite of the sacrifices people cared and looked out for each other.  They had little but they shared.   Kids played in the streets and they were safe and people shared the little they had.

 

The only rules I have tried to concoct for us is  to deal with this is firstly  (1) Never waste your precious time  trying to rationalise the irrational.  … it’s an oxymoron. You can never put yourself in the head of someone else.  (2)  Never begrudge yourself an indulgence simply because you had a tough time earlier in life and the self-indulgence was something you were taught was selfish.  It might have been then but now they are not. 

 

The sad fact is that the only option is to shrug and dwell on that currently we are alive and the people that are following us are joining a world that was nothing like the one that we have been privileged  to enjoy. I might not like getting older but I am also pleased not to be young today and blossoming in the current world. 

 

I ramble yet again and even I can only make limited sense of what I’ve just said so I’m hoping you detect at least some solidarity and empathy.

 

Jeff x 

 

Edited July 31 by UKCruiseJeff

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Evening All,

 

We finally made it down to Devon on the slowest roads ever.  People ground to a halt at Stonehenge to take photographs whilst they travelled slowly along the single track A303 with their cameras out of their windows and roofs. 

 

But we are here!   Balcony@seaside.  And a curry was consumed. 

 

My greatest collection obsession is that I collect original British travel posters. I cannot resist.  Christies told me I have the largest private collection of Devon travel posters that they know of which I find odd.  British travel posters capture a time long lost for so many reasons.  Old fashioned beach holidays with steam trains and buckets and spades.  I have quite a few …. and ‘er indoors doesn’t know all that I spent!  😉

 

The one poster I have always wanted - not Devon - but was so magical and evocative I could never justify buying because it is so rare and valuable in A1 condition is Southport (c1932) - for winter holidays.  It is genuinely the poster above all  that I don’t have but crave.  I so want it. 

 

I thought I’d share the poster - this doesn’t do justice but was the best I could find … that I fear I’ll never own.

 

Jeff

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 31 by UKCruiseJeff

[lincslady]

Thanks, everyone.  I fully subscribe to your penultimate paragraph, Jeff, and it was just an exceptional amount of horrid happenings in the last couple of days - and I think there is more going on in London tonight - that made me feel blue early this morning.  

 

Mysty-   I love police and detective stories, and also tend to collect authors.  Recently Richard Osman and the Thursday Murder Club (I think you would enjoy those) and Ann Cleeves,  very much set in different areas of England and Scotland.  I have a site I tend  to buy from, slightly used, though often new, paperbacks at about £3 each with 4 for the price of three, lend to friends and then give to a church lending library.  Just looked your author up, and see there are lots of hers.  I too  love to get them in the order they were written.  There  is nothing like going to bed a bit early to have a good read before sleep!  So she will be my next order,  with quick free delivery by Royal Mail.  Night night everyone.

[caradara]

My friends and I want to move to Three Pines!  We know that it is not real but it is really lovely.

 

[mysty]

4 minutes ago, caradara said:

My friends and I want to move to Three Pines!  We know that it is not real but it is really lovely.

 

 

Agreed!  If I could find a magical place like this I would be there in a blink. 😁

[DavyWavey70]

1 hour ago, mysty said:

 

Agreed!  If I could find a magical place like this I would be there in a blink. 😁

I’m off to Lancre. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 hours ago, caradara said:

My friends and I want to move to Three Pines!  We know that it is not real but it is really lovely.

 

2 hours ago, mysty said:

Agreed!  If I could find a magical place like this I would be there in a blink. 😁

 

I've been there!  

[Lirio]

I am reading this one (in Portuguese). My favorite subject are navigation and exploration. I do have quite a huge collection about this.

 

Edited August 1 by Lirio

[mysty]

3 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

 

I've been there!  

 

Amazing!  Was it awesome?  Thank you!!!!